Broken Phones, Not Broken Hearts
by hmweasley
Summary: When Alec first meets his new neighbor, he breaks his phone. Maybe he should take that as a sign, but all he wants is to know more about Magnus. As the months pass, that curiosity only increases until a snowball fight finally prompts them to actually do something about it.


**Word count: 3,362**

* * *

Alec hurried out the front door, his eyes on his phone as he typed out a reply to Jace.

_I have the book you forgot. Maybe don't kick it under your bed next time you get tired of your homework. Then you'll actually remember it._

He rolled his eyes at the emoji Jace sent in response. He went to store his phone in his pocket and actually watch where he was going, but at that exact moment, he came within an inch of colliding with the large box in someone's arms.

Alec jumped back, eyes wide as he took in the boy in front of thim.

He couldn't have been much older than Alec himself. His hair was spiky, and his clothes were unlike anything typically seen in their wealthy neighborhood where everyone prized themselves on appearances.

The stranger was even wearing eyeliner, Alec noticed with a gulp. His stomach fluttered as the boy smirked at him. If Alec had been going anywhere, it had been forgotten while the boy's gaze scanned the length of his body.

"You dropped your phone."

Alec blinked dumbly several times before the nameless boy's words registered. Startled, he look at the ground to find his phone lying there, the screen shattered.

"Shit," Alec muttered, snatching the phone up.

He inspected the screen as if he might discover a way to magically fix it, but it was hopeless. His parents had only bought the phone for him a month before, so he couldn't tell them that he'd broken it. They expected him to be the responsible one.

Moments before, he'd been angry that Jace's mini-crisis had meant he didn't have time for coffee; suddenly, coffee was the last thing he needed to keep himself awake.

"I'm sorry," the stranger said, though nothing in his tone sounded all that sorry. "Is it bad?"

Alec frowned at him as he tried to decide whether or not he was serious. He'd seen the damaged phone lying on the ground as clearly as Alec had, but he raised an eyebrow as if he expected Alec to answer.

"It's fine," Alec muttered, storing the phone in his pocket like he'd originally meant to.

There was no use blaming a stranger for something that couldn't be fixed, especially when that stranger was so gorgeous that Alec was still having trouble processing that he was real.

"Next time you should probably be more careful about where you're going," the boy remarked with a smirk.

It was meant to be a joke, but Alec gritted his teeth in annoyance. Maybe it hadn't been the stranger's fault, but he felt little guilt about blaming Jace for the entire affair. Not just for breaking his phone but for making said phone breaking a gorgeous boy's first impression of him.

"Yeah, I'll do that," Alec replied dryly.

Pushing his annoyance with his brother aside, Alec let himself take in the boy's appearance for the first time since he'd noticed his phone was broken. He wasn't at all familiar, which was odd. Everyone knew everyone in a neighborhood that thrived on gossip. Newcomers were reported on with fervor whenever they arrived.

"Who are you?" Alec asked, trying not to cringe the second he realized how confrontational it sounded.

The stranger stiffened, and Alec quickly pushed on, determined not to be written off as a jerk after one conversation.

"It's just that I seem to have met everyone around here, but I've never seen you before. I'd have remembered if I had."

He blushed at the last statement, averting his gaze to the sidewalk. There was a slight laugh that made Alec's stomach flutter again when he looked back at the boy, mesmerized by the way his brown eyes sparkled.

"I'm Magnus," he said, the name music to Alec's ears. "I'm moving in next-door."

He jostled the box that Alec had forgotten he was holding between them.

"Oh," Alec replied dumbly.

His mind raced at the thought of Magnus being next-door for the foreseeable future. There was no telling how often Alec might see him. The thought of stepping outside the front door suddenly felt much more hazardous than it had ever been.

"I'm Alec," he stuttered. "I guess we're next-door neighbors then."

Magnus laughed, and Alec desperately hoped the look in his eyes was the beginning of fondness and not sympathy.

"It would appear that way," Magnus said.

Alec nodded again, hesitating over what he should say next, when his phone vibrated in his pocket and jolted him back to reality.

"Shit," he muttered. "I'm sorry, but I have to get to school. My brother forgot to take his book with him to lacrosse practice, and I have to take it. And I have Chemistry. And I, uh… Sorry."

"It's fine," Magnus said, holding back laughter. "I wouldn't want to make you late."

Alec nodded stiffly and gave a short, awkward wave of his hand as he hurried to his car, tripping once on the way and desperately hoping Magnus hadn't seen it. He could hardly glance the other boy's way as he backed out of the driveway and headed off down the street.

* * *

Before Alec knew it, the school year was over.

In the final weeks of the year, Alec has realized that Magnus didn't attend his school. There was no way he could have missed him if he did. For days after their first encounter, Alec spent ample time scanning the crowds to find him. If there was anyone who could have stood out even in the uniform all Alicante Prep students shared, it would have been Magnus.

Yet Alec still saw him.

They'd lived next door to Asmodeus for most of Alec's life, but Alec knew very little about the man. He'd never paid attention to his comings and goings, but everything Magnus did drew Alec's attention like a moth to a flame. He'd be minding his own business in his room, usually studying, when he got the sudden urge to look out his window, only to find Magnus outside.

He was often accompanied by other people, none of whom seemed like students from Alicante. Alec was increasingly sure that they were college students, and the idea of Magnus being one of them only increased his fascination with the boy.

Izzy, Alec was sure, knew more than he did. He'd watched her speak to Magnus several times, yet he couldn't work up the nerve to ask her about him. He knew she would latch onto it and never let him forget about it.

Alec was sure that Magnus had been checking him out when they'd first met, but no college student would be interested in dating a high schooler, even one that was graduating.

So, the weeks had passed, and Alec had made no move to get to know Magnus better. He was careful when leaving or arriving at home, determined not to let Magnus catch him off guard. He couldn't leave the house without putting care into his appearance first. Maybe nothing would happen between him and Magnus, but he couldn't shake the desire to impress Magnus in any way that he could.

His phone was still broken. The last few weeks of school had included keeping it carefully hidden from his parents.

With school out, he'd gotten a part time job at the mall to save up for a new one. His parents weren't excited that their eldest son had decided to work retail instead of focusing on SAT prep, but they'd reluctantly agreed to it after Alec had convinced them it would look good on future internship applications.

He'd even taken the opening shifts so he could finish earlier and study like his parents wanted him to. If that meant not having to see Magnus as he left for work, then that was a bonus. As far as he was concerned, no one he knew should have seen him in his hideous work uniform.

Magnus often came home late at night, not that Alec had ever stayed up just for the off chance of catching a glimpse, so it was reasonable to expect him to be dead to the world in the early morning hours. What Alec hadn't bet on was Magnus arriving home past sunrise.

Yet that was what he encountered not even a week into his summer job: Magnus walking down the sidewalk towards home just as Alec headed for his car. Dark circles under his eyes hinted at how long he'd been awake, but his makeup was flawless, like he'd reapplied it before heading home. Alec couldn't help but gape as he approached.

As soon as Magnus saw him, his shoulders straightened from their tired slouching and he smiled.

"Alexander," Magnus called, not keeping his voice down despite the hour. Alec's stomach tightened; if Magnus knew his full name, he'd definitely been talking to Isabelle. "Where are you going?"

"Work," Alec replied, raising a hand to rub at his neck. "I'm saving up to buy a new phone."

Magnus came to a stop several feet away. His head tilted to the side as he analyzed Alec.

"You're saying your loaded parents haven't already bought you one?"

Alec sucked in a sharp breath. He was used to such comments from certain people, but Magnus also lived in their neighborhood. He glanced back at Asmodeus' house to confirm for himself that Magnus had no right to judge him for rich parents. He didn't like being confrontational about money though; it only made him nervous. Instead, he shrugged.

"I don't like asking them things, especially when I was the one to break them."

Magnus' eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at Alec like he was someone he couldn't figure out. That was something else Alec was used to: baffling people. No one ever stared at him as openly afterward though, and no one made him feel exposed just by looking at him.

"I get that," Magnus said eventually, breaking his gaze to look at his dad's house. "Sometimes parents can be the worst."

Several questions ran through Alec's mind. He held all of them back, a little worried by the look on Magnus' face. When he turned back to Alec, though, it was with an electric grin on his lips.

"Well, I suppose you have to be going."

Without waiting for an answer, he waved and began walking towards his front door.

"See you, Alexander."

Alec could hardly return the, "See you," before Magnus had disappeared, leaving Alec staring at a closed door.

* * *

"Do you think Magnus will throw any college parties of his own?"

Alec glanced up from his homework at Izzy, who was sitting across from him at the dining table and ostensibly doing the same thing he was. Her textbook was long abandoned however. She stretched over to get a glimpse of someone—apparently Magnus—out the window. Alec refused to follow her lead.

Despite his carefully controlled indifference on the outside, he filed the new information away in his mind. He'd long suspected Magnus was in college, but it was good to have it confirmed without having to ask.

"Doubt it," he said with a shrug. "Asmodeus isn't the type to allow parties, is he? Unless they're his dinner parties."

Izzy shuddered at the thought of their longtime neighbor.

"Probably not," she said with a pout. "No one would want to come if he was there anyway. He gives me the creeps. Still, what if he goes on a trip or something? He goes on business trips, right? Maybe Magnus will throw a party then. Do you think he'd invite me? I may only be a junior, but I think he likes me."

"Please tell me that I'm not hearing what I think I am."

Alec stiffened as he looked up from his textbook to find his mother hovering in the doorway. Her hands were on her hips as she glowered at Izzy.

"You will not be attending _any_ parties, especially not ones thrown by college students."

She glanced at the window. Magnus must have still been visible because her frown deepened. Alec's hand tightened around his pen as he forced himself not to look in the same direction.

"Mom," Izzy whined, "it's not that big of a deal—"

Maryse's sharp look cut off any other protests Izzy might have made. Her eyes were on fire as she finally expressed the emotions that she'd been holding in for months.

"That boy isn't in a good place," she said, her voice low as if Magnus might hear her through the window. "I spoke to Asmodeus when he first moved in. It seems that he and Magnus' mother had a troubled relationship. He was vague about the details, but I believe whatever happened between them was very improper. The woman didn't tell Asmodeus when she became pregnant, and Magnus spent most of his life with her. But she wasn't fit to be a mother. That's why Magnus is with Asmodeus now. There's no telling what trouble he'd get you into after a childhood like that."

Alec and Izzy shared a look. Izzy knew what he did: that their mother's fears were misplaced. Plenty of the kids at their school had done much, much worse than it seemed Magnus had even if their transgressions were safely hidden from the sights of Maryse Lightwood.

For once, it was Alec who couldn't stop himself from pushing back against Maryse's prejudices.

"Maybe his mom was a good mom. What if she raised him well and Asmodeus just hates her because she left him or something like that?"

Maryse leveled him with a look that she typically directed at Izzy or Jace, and Alec stiffened, not used to being on its receiving end. He fiddled with the pen in his hand, but when Maryse spoke, there was a quiver in her own voice, as if Alec's strange decision to speak up had thrown her off her game too.

"Just stay away from him," she said. "I don't want either of you getting involved in something dangerous."

With that, she left the room, and Alec could breathe once more. He turned back to his homework, but Izzy caught his eye. She was watching him with a small smile that Alec couldn't interpret.

"What?" he snapped.

She laughed and shook her head.

"Nothing, big brother. Nothing."

* * *

The first snow of the year was hardly something Alec considered noteworthy. Sure, the snow was often gorgeous once it settled, but the first snow was only a sign of many more to come. No matter how nice it was to look at, snow also meant hours spent shoveling, greater potential for car accidents, and—at least in Alec's case—more opportunities to slip and embarrass yourself in front of your crush.

So, when Izzy dragged him outside to play in the snow like they were third graders, Alec was less than enthusiastic about the idea even as Jace and Max eagerly joined in.

Alec smiled as his siblings took to tossing snowballs at each other, getting more and more caught up in their competitiveness. Despite not wanting anything to do with it himself, he liked seeing his siblings having fun together. He was so engrossed in watching them that he didn't notice the snowball heading in his direction until he collided with his shoulder.

He whirled around, heart hammering in his chest. None of his siblings had thrown it—he'd been watching them—the direction the snowball had come from had been…

Sure enough, Magnus was standing several feet away, his nose already turning red from the cold despite the heavy jacket and scarf he wore.

"Why aren't you joining in?" he asked, his smile more blinding than the snow had any hope of being.

Alec stammered. The truth: that he was too much of a seasonal grouch for such games was too embarrassing to admit when Magnus was looking at him like that.

After a moment of hesitation, he did the only thing that made sense in the moment. He reached down, scooped up a handful of snow, and threw it at Magnus' chest without taking the time to form a ball.

Most of it rained out of the sky before it hit anything, but some of it did reach Magnus, sprinkling his chest in a sprinkle of snow that stood out starkly against the black of his coat. He blinked in surprise before laughing, and Alec's stomach twisted as he realized what he'd done.

Before he could apologize or feel too embarrassed, Magnus reached down and scooped up more snow of his own. Cursing to himself, Alec fled into the fray of his siblings' ongoing battle to avoid the onslaught.

In the blink of an eye, all four of them were in a full out war. Everyone was fair game, but Alec knew that he was receiving more than his fair share of Magnus' snowballs. He maneuvered around the yard to escape, for once not thinking about his parents' reactions when they returned home and saw the state of the yard.

He was about to dive behind a bush when an unexpected snowball hit his back in the same moment he encountered an unexpected stick on the ground. Stumbling, he found himself lying in the snow, the cold seeping through his jacket. He hadn't had time to put on adequate layers when Izzy was dragging him outside, and he hadn't expected to actually come in contact with the snow.

He was only on the ground a second before someone yelped behind him and tripped over his feet. Alec knew it was Magnus the second the older boy landed on top of him even though he was still facing the ground. The shape of the body pressing into him was a far cry from that of any of his siblings. Alec's cheeks burned, and he was tempted to press them against the cold snow to cool them.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Alec muttered, thankful that Magnus couldn't see his face much better than he could see Magnus'.

He felt more than heard Magnus' laughter, the vibrations making him shiver.

"I do believe that I'm the one on top," Magnus said, his voice low enough that the others wouldn't hear it as they continued their war. "I'd apologize, but it was your sister's fault. She shoved me."

Of course she did. Alec made a mental note to complain to her later.

"Sorry," Alec said again, not knowing what else to do.

He couldn't exactly get up with Magnus still pressed into his back, and he was strangely okay with that. Standing up would only lead to more embarrassment when he had to look Magnus in the eye anyway.

Magnus laughed again.

"Don't," he said. "I've been looking forward to getting you in a position like this for months."

Alec took a deep breath to calm himself. Magnus liked to flirt; he'd learned that from both Izzy and his own observations. The blatant innuendo didn't necessarily mean Alec was special, yet he could tell that, underneath the layer of bravado, Magnus meant it. The sheer number of looks they'd shared in the months since they'd met were probably the only thing that gave Alec the courage to say what he did next.

"I have to."

Magnus got off of him without speaking. Alec took his offered hand to stand up, his cheeks flaming as he waited for Magnus' response.

Once he was standing, Magnus didn't let go of his hand. Instead, he used it to tug Alec closer, his other hand resting on Alec's hip where it burned despite the layers of fabric between their skin.

Alec stared into Magnus' brown eyes for the short moment he had before Magnus leant in to kiss him.

Warmth spread through his body like wildfire. He forgot all about the snow and the war they'd been in the midst of as Magnus' lips moved against his. He couldn't have known that Izzy, Jace, and Max had made themselves scarce or that the snow in their hair was beginning to melt, leaving it damp.

All of that awareness would come back later, but for the moment, all he knew was Magnus.


End file.
